Lionfish

Main Content

Lionfish

Photograph by Catherine Fearn, My Shot

A lionfish peers through the glass of a Las Vegas aquarium. In the wild its beautiful, needle-like dorsal fins can deliver a painful and venomous sting. The formidable array of fins, combined with the fish’s color and generally prickly appearance, are meant to send a strong “stay away” message to predators in Indo-Pacific coral reefs.